Star-fleet approved interior design

What began as an exercise in self-healing has become a full-time occupation and publicity juggernaut for British designer Tony Alleyne. After a run of "bad luck" in 1994 when his marriage broke down, a despondent Alleyne turned to his long-time obsession with Star Trek for solace - several years and around $40,000 dollars later the interior of his one bedroom flat in Leicestershire, 160km north of London has been transformed into a replica of the Starship Enterprise.

In making the change form DJ to futuristic interior designer, Alleyne began by creating an exact replica of the Transporter Control Console featured in Star Trek: Next Generation. The Console took two years to complete and when he couldn't find anyone to take it off his hands, Alleyne decided to renovate his entire flat around it. The price of perfection has left Alleyne without a stove or washing machine - they didn't fit the sci-fi theme - and he receives hundreds of enquiries from Star Trek Fans eager to visit his home (invitations which are declined).

Taking the idea to the next level in 1998, Alleyne registered 24th Century Interior Design and now has projects underway in the UK that incorporate Star Trek-themed rooms into hotels as well as plenty of interest from the US where home-theatres replicating the Star Trek experience are in demand.

As for the original Star Trek flat - Alleyne may not be residing there much longer given that the 24th Century real estate went on sale at eBay recently with an estimated asking price of $3.3 million.

Mike grew up thinking he would become a mathematician, accidentally started motorcycle racing, got a job writing road tests for a motorcycle magazine while at university, and became a writer. As a travelling photojournalist during his early career, his work was published in a dozen languages across 20+ countries. He went on to edit or manage over 50 print publications, with target audiences ranging from pensioners to plumbers, many different sports, many car and motorcycle magazines, with many more in the fields of communication - narrow subject magazines on topics such as advertising, marketing, visual communications, design, presentation and direct marketing. Then came the internet and Mike managed internet projects for Australia's largest multimedia company, Telstra.com.au (Australia's largest Telco), Seek.com.au (Australia's largest employment site), top100.com.au, hitwise.com, and a dozen other internet start-ups before founding Gizmag in 2002. Now he writes and thinks.